Comments by "Dennis Weidner" (@dennisweidner288) on "Why did Synthetic OIL not solve the AXIS OIL Crisis?" video.

@davidolie8392 Absolutely correct. The synfuel processes actually destroyed huge quantities of coal, requiring vastly more BTUs than they created.
1
There are some errors here, but your major point about the cost of synfuels is correct and too often ignored. The cost was a huge drag on the German War Economy. You are, however, wrong about coal. It is true that Germany was self-sufficient in coal production. But the countries they conquered were not. Many were importing coal from Britain. This of course ended when Hitler and Stalin launched the War. Now if the NAZIs were going to exploit the economies of the occupied countries, they had to keep the lights on. Thus Germany had to ship some of their coal to the occupied countries and Switzerland. You are also wrong about Britain. They did not have Middle Eastern oil. When Italy entered the War. It could no longer be shipped through the Mediterranean. And Britain did not have the tankers needed to ship Middle Eastern oil around the Cape. So they did increase oil imports from Venezuela and Trinidad, but more importantly, they hugely expanded imports of American oil.
1